Thunderpants | |
---|---|
Directed by | Pete Hewitt |
Screenplay by | Phil Hughes |
Story by | Pete Hewitt |
Produced by | Graham Broadbent Damian Jones Pete Hewitt |
Starring | Simon Callow Stephen Fry Celia Imrie Paul Giamatti Ned Beatty Bruce Cook Rupert Grint |
Cinematography | Andy Collins |
Edited by | Michael Parker |
Music by | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Pathé Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom Germany |
Language | English |
Budget | $7 million |
Box office | $3 million |
Thunderpants is a 2002 family comedy film about a boy whose incredible capacity for flatulence gets him a job as an astronaut. The film was directed by Pete Hewitt, whose previous work included Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) and The Borrowers (1997). The script was written by Phil Hughes, based on a story by Pete Hewitt about a boy who dreams of being a spaceman, despite his chronic flatulence.
Born with two stomachs, Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) is uncontrollably and devastatingly flatulent. No more than thirty seconds after his birth, he first breaks wind, horrifying his parents (Bronagh Gallagher, and Victor McGuire) and doctor (Robert Hardy). As he grows up, Patrick's farts become so uncontrollable and destructive that his father has to flee their home, as he is often injured by his son's gaseous emissions, whose force is so strong that it can blow people over. Patrick is bullied at school as a result of his condition, but eventually finds strength in his disorder, ultimately gaining revenge on the school bully Damon (Joshua Herdman) by passing gas in his face, leaving him scarred for life. Patrick's only friend is child prodigy Alan A. Allen (Rupert Grint), who has anosmia, and, therefore, lacks the ability to smell. Alan and Patrick team up to make Thunderpants, reinforced short trousers strong enough to contain Patrick's emissions. One day, on the way to visit Alan, Patrick sees Alan being taken away in a mysterious black car; Alan's father informs Patrick that Alan will not be returning home soon. Patrick gets recruited by an opera singer (Simon Callow) to help him with his world tour; Patrick uses this as an opportunity to search for Alan. Eventually, Patrick learns that Alan went to the US to assist a mission astronauts who are trapped in outer space, and Patrick finds that his condition may be of use to the spacemen in peril.
The film has received a rating of 67% at the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, based upon 6 reviews. [1]
Empire magazine wrote in their review that Thunderpants is "a well-made, quirky oddity for adults, but a laugh riot for kids and Beano nostalgists... underneath all the expelled air it's really just a simple tale of a boy finding his talent and making the most of it". [2] The hosts of the RedLetterMedia web series Best of the Worst shared similar sentiments when reviewing the film with the consensus being that the movie was too charming and well-made to be considered a "bad" film. [3]
During an appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , Paul Giamatti referred to this film as one of the high points in his career. [4]
Flatulence is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environmental air, and hence flatus is not entirely generated in the stomach or bowels. The scientific study of this area of medicine is termed flatology.
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor. Grint rose to fame for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, for which he was cast at age eleven, having previously acted only in school plays and his local theatre group. He portrayed Weasley in all eight films in the series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Since then, he has continued his work on film, television, and theatre.
2DTV is a British satirical animated television series which was co-created and produced by Giles Pilbrow for ITV. It premiered on ITV on 27 March 2001 and was nominated for the Rose d'Or Award in both 2002 and 2003.
Thomas Andrew Felton is an English actor. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and made his screen debut in the role of Peagreen Clock in The Borrowers (1997). He portrayed Louis T. Leonowens in Anna and the King (1999) before being cast as Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the Harry Potter fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, starting with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and finishing with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Felton appeared in the sci-fi film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). He was subsequently cast in indie films From the Rough (2011) and The Apparition (2012).
Snatch is a 2000 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast and set in the London criminal underworld. The film contains two intertwined plots, one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter who finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless gangster who is ready and willing to have his subordinates carry out severe and sadistic acts of violence.
Young Sherlock Holmes is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film depicts a young Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meeting and solving a mystery together at a boarding school.
Patrick Ewart Garland was a British director, writer and actor.
Zoom is a 2006 American superhero comedy film directed by Peter Hewitt and written by Adam Rifkin and David Berenbaum. Based upon the children's book Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy by Jason Lethcoe, the film stars Tim Allen, Courteney Cox, Chevy Chase, Spencer Breslin, and Rip Torn. It features a former superhero who is dragged into training four superpowered youths to become superheroes and combat an approaching threat.
Big Bully is a 1996 American black comedy film directed by Steve Miner, written by Mark Steven Johnson and starring Rick Moranis and Tom Arnold as two men, a childhood bully and his victim, as they reconnect as adults.
St Trinian's is a 2007 British comedy film and the sixth in a long-running series of British films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle and set in St Trinian's School. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St. Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and a reboot in 1980. The release of 2007, 27 years after the last entry, and 53 years after the first film, is a rebooting of the franchise, rather than a direct sequel, with certain plot elements borrowed from the first film.
Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell is an English actor. He is known for his roles in films such as Dead Man's Shoes (2004), Control (2007), RocknRolla (2008), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), War Horse (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Fantastic Four (2015), Warcraft (2016), A Monster Calls (2016), Ben-Hur (2016), and Gold (2016). He is also known for his work in the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You" (2011) and starred in the second film of the MonsterVerse film series, Kong: Skull Island (2017) and the Apple TV+ series Servant (2019–2023) and For All Mankind (2023–2024).
Faintheart is a 2008 British comedy film, directed by Vito Rocco and starring Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner and Jessica Hynes. The film's creation was influenced by collaborative input from the MySpace community.
The 23rd Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television, theater and music for the year 2001, and took place on April 7, 2002 at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California.
Metegol is a 2013 animated sports comedy film co-written, produced, directed and edited by Juan J. Campanella. The film is loosely based on the short story Memorias de un wing derecho by Argentine writer Roberto Fontanarrosa. Gaston Gorali, co-writer and producer of the film, and Eduardo Sacheri developed the screenplay with Campanella.
Postman Pat: The Movie is a 2014 3D animated comedy preschool film based on the television series Postman Pat by John Cunliffe and Ivor Wood. It was directed by Mike Disa, produced by Robert Anich Cole, written by Nicole Dubuc, with music by Rupert Gregson-Williams. It was co-produced by DreamWorks Classics, RGH Pictures and Timeless Films.
Moonwalkers is a 2015 British crime comedy film directed by debut director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, written by Dean Craig, and starring Ron Perlman, Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan. The film, which is based on Moon landing conspiracy theories, had its world premiere at SXSW on March 14, 2015. It had a limited release on January 15, 2016 and was available through video on demand by Alchemy.
Downsizing is a 2017 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne and Jim Taylor, and starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristen Wiig. It tells the story of Paul Safranek, who decides to undergo a recently invented procedure to shrink his body so he can start a new life in an experimental community, which he ends up doing alone when his wife backs out at the last minute; his journey takes an unexpected turn after he befriends an impoverished activist. Principal photography for the film began in Ontario, Canada, on April 1, 2016.
Shooting for Socrates is a 2014 Irish film co-written and directed by James Erskine and starring John Hannah, Richard Dormer and Sergio Mur as Brazilian footballer Sócrates.
Knock at the Cabin is a 2023 American apocalyptic psychological horror film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay from an initial draft by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It is based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay, the first adaptation of one of his works. The film stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. In the film, a family is vacationing at a remote cabin when they are suddenly held hostage by four strangers who ask them to do something unimaginable.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is a television special released on 1 January 2022 on HBO Max. It is a reunion special for the cast and crew of the Harry Potter film series, marking the twentieth anniversary of the series' first instalment, The Philosopher's Stone. It was produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon and executive produced by Casey Patterson.